Leadership Changes at ‘Body & Soul’

BOSTON Jan Thaw Bruce, who reinvigorated Walking magazine in the mid-1990s, has joined New Age Publishing as CEO and publisher of its flagship Body & Soul title. Bruce had most recently been CEO of Integrative Medicine Communications.

Her former Walking colleague Seth Bauer has been named vp, editor-in-chief.

They replace David Thorne and Jennifer Cook, respectively. (Thorne remains chairman and sits on the company’s board of directors; he also runs a separate company, Thorne Communications.)

Bruce vowed to make the 28-year-old bi-monthly magazine the leader in its marketplace.

Watertown, Mass.-based Body & Soul was founded in 1974 as New Age Journal and renamed last year. The title focuses on holistic living and spirituality and will soon unveil a fresh editorial look. Bruce and Bauer are expected to inject some mainstream appeal into the title in order to reach a wider base of readers and potential advertisers. Circulation of late has been flat around 200,000.

This marks the second time in a week a shakeup has taken place at a regionally published title. Bill Taylor and Alan Webber, co-founding editors of Fast Company, stepped down last week but remain consultants with the Boston-based G+J publication.